Divorce with Children in Israel –

When a married couple files for divorce, the custody and interaction with their children is a crucial concern. What does Israeli law have to say about custody, alimony, and support payments? This article will address divorce with children in Israel.

Custody in Israeli Courts

Divorce with children in Israel is subject to Israeli law, based on the 1962 Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law (linked in Hebrew). This law stipulates that if parents come to an agreement regarding custody and visitation, the court can rule on custody based on the parents’ wishes. However, if parents do not come to an agreement on children’s custody, then the court can decide on this.

Israeli courts tend to prefer to keep siblings together, even in cases when parents would rather each have custody of one or several of the children. In the event that parents wish to split custody in this way, the court will likely appoint a professional to explore the issue and, based on this, make recommendations for the court, influencing the eventual ruling.

Children’s Preferences

If children are over the age of 10, their preferences are taken into consideration during custody arrangements. Before the age of 10, social workers’ and psychological experts‘ opinions are tools that are often used to determine suitability and parental capability in custody arrangements.

Israeli law has indicated that more mature minors (particularly, teenagers) should be able to indicate their wishes, and this should be taken into consideration in custody decisions. In the event that a teenager does not want a certain custody arrangement, and it would cause them severe emotional distress, courts tend to rule according to their preferences unless parental capability or other issues would recommend against this.

Paternal vs. Maternal Custody

In Israel, it is customary to grant custody to the mother if the children are under the age of six. Of course, there are exceptions to this, if the mother does not want custody or if she is deemed unfit to have custody.

In some cases, a more religious father wants custody of the children to ensure they have a Jewish education. However, this desire is not generally considered grounds for giving a father instead of a mother custody of young children.

In Israel, family courts and rabbinical courts operate in a similar way regarding custody, however, rabbinical courts tend to default to girls living with their mothers and boys living with their fathers after they reach a certain age.

Child support payments:

The parent who doesn’t have custody of the couple’s children will often be required to pay child support to the other parent. The amount of child support will be determined by a religious court (if the divorced couple were both members of the same religious denomination) or the family court (if dealing with a “mixed” couple).

Additional Articles

We have many articles related to divorce and custody on our website. This includes child kidnapping (when one parent takes the children out of the country without the other parent’s consent), divorce in a rabbinical court (between Jews), divorce for Christians, Muslims, mixed marriages, and more.

Contact Us – Divorce with Children in Israel

If you have questions about divorce with children in Israel, please contact us. Advocate Anat Levi specializes in Israeli family law, along with divorce and custody issues, and she would be happy to help you.